Dmitry Vlasyevich Aynalov (p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ˈvlasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ɐjˈnaləf; — 12 December 1939
Early life
Aynalov was born in
Mariupol, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, on 20 February (8 February O.S.) 1862 in the family of a tradesman, Vlasiya Dmitrievich Aynalov. His father was of Greek descent.
Dmitry Aynalov graduated from Mariupol Gymnasium in 1884 and then entered the History and Philology Department of the Novorossiya University in
Odessa.
[ Biography in the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia] He majored in art history and studied under the prominent art critic and archaeologist
Nikodim Kondakov.
He completed his student thesis in collaboration with
Yegor Redin on the topic of the painting of the Saint Sophia Cathedral. It was published in Saint Petersburg in 1889.
Career
After graduation in 1888, Dmitry Aynalov was assigned to the Saint Petersburg State University. For two years he was preparing to become a
Professor in the field of art theory and art history. He accepted the position of an assistant professor at the Kazan University. In 1890-1903 he taught art history of the Classical antiquity and Kievan Rus' at that university's Department of Art Theory and Art History. He visited Italy in order to collect material for his
dissertation, entitled
The Hellenistic Foundations of the Byzantine art.
He explored the works of art and monuments of Rome, Venice, Naples, Palermo, Parma, Florence and visited other Italian towns. After five years of work he successfully defended the dissertation on 27 November 1895.
From 11 July 1903 he was a professor at the Saint Petersburg State University. He also taught at the Bestuzhev Courses from 5 December 1906.
Aynalov had an interest in archaeology. As a member of the Russian Archaeological Society, he took part in meetings and fulfilled various requests, e.g. in 1904-1905 as requested by the Moscow Archaeological Society he studied the church architecture of Chernigov. He was particularly interested in Chersonesus and the Crimean Peninsula architecture.
He retired in 1929 due to health issues.[ Список репрессированных членов АН СССР] He died in Leningrad in 1939, and was buried at the Volkovo Cemetery with his spouse Nadezhda.
Publications
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Saint Sophia's Cathedral in Kiev (), 1890; in collaboration with Yegor Redin
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The Hellenistic Foundations of Byzantine Art (), 1900
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The Christian Chersonesus Monuments (), 1901
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Études in the History of Renaissance art (), 1908
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Sketches and Notes on Kievan Rus' Art History (), 1914
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History of Kievan Rus' Art (), 1915
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Byzantine Paintings of the 14th century (), 1917
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Études about Leonardo da Vinci (), 1939
